“Goals are dreams with deadlines”
Diana Scharf Hunt
Few human endeavours succeed without investing time and effort into planning. We’ve all set new years resolutions and crossed our fingers that we would be magically transformed without much effort. And we realise the cold hard truth a few months down the track that this does not work.
If we want to achieve success in any area of our lives, including health and wellness, we need to put in some effort in the beginning. Taking time allows us to dream and visualise, to check in with what is important to us and what our values are. We can look into the future and paint a picture of where we see ourselves. This then becomes our vision, our ultimate outcome.
But how do we get there? We can design goals. These are the behaviours which are needed for us to achieve our desired outcome. Setting goals for the mid-term and the short term is a tried and trusted method to create a realistic pathway to change. If you are wanting to achieve your health and wellness vision in the future, start by designing intermediate goals for 3 months time. This allows enough time to make meaningful progress, establish new behaviours as well as experiencing the benefit.
The next step is to design several short term goals. Weekly goals are ideal as you can focus on a small number of behaviours each week that are manageable. 2-3 weekly goals is perfect, so you don’t feel overwhelmed. These goals need to be SMART. Make them specific, measurable, action based, realistic and time bound. Ensure they are slightly challenging but not too difficult, with a 70-80% chance that they can be achieved.
Mastering your goals, allows you to build a sense of self-efficacy which then increases the potential for future success. It helps you to be more confident, ready, willing and able to move forward with other goals. If you are less confident you will achieve the goal over the week, tweak it in some way so that there is a higher chance you will succeed. This may be doing an activity twice instead of every day, or for 30mins rather than an hour at a time. Or you may introduce a strategy to enhance your chance for success by adding a reminder to your calendar on your phone, or planning to meet with a friend to do the activity together.
Think of your goals as an experiment with a ‘trial and correction’ mindset. We are so used to taking a ‘trial and error’ approach, whereby if we don’t succeed, the only alternative is to fail. Fearing failure in itself is not a helpful way to move ahead with our goals. If we can relax and experiment with different strategies there is a greater likelihood of figuring out what works and the chances of achieving your goals are much greater. This is a gradual process where you can have fun. Try something, reflect, learn, change it and try again.
So start big, dream and visualise. Then think small and design experiments with deadlines. Keep a trial and correction focus and be confident of success. Stay connected with your vision, and you will achieve success.
Health and wellness coaching can help you at every step as you work towards your dreams. Coaching ensures that you are in control and that you are working to your own values and strengths. Coaching helps you to brainstorm, to reflect and to keep moving forward. Coaching champions your achievements and enables you to reach success in your way.
Contact me to find out how I can help you with your health and wellness goals.